They’ve been trying to give the All Star teams a real motivation for playing hard, trying to win, etc., by making the World Series home advantage go to the winner, which I don’t like for a number of reasons, not least of which is that most All-Stars realize by mid-July that they ain’t going to the post-season anyway, so it means very little to many players personally, and may even have a disincentive to some (those who think “I don’t want [a player in their league on a first-place team whom they despise] to win the Series, so I’ll miss the cutoff man here.” Mostly, it seems like a lame advantage to me, like it will really make a difference in most All-Stars’s effort in the game itself.
But I have an incentive that will. There are advantages to BEING on the A-S team, mainly financial ones, and most players are going to be in the same league next year, and most A-S players have a good shot at being chosen for NEXT year’s squad. So this is it.
The losing team will take the traditional number of players (I think it’s 28 players now?) to NEXT year’s game, while the winning team will get to add players to their squad, as many additional players as the run difference in the final score.
Now, THERE’s an incentive. Not only might the additional players help the A-S team to win next year’s game (a very small edge) but each player will think “I could get voted off next year’s squad if it’s only 28 players, but if it’s 30 or 35 or 38 players, that gives me a much better chance of earning my A-S incentive in my contract,” so they’ll play hard, they’ll play to win, and they’ll play good baseball even in a blowout.
Shoot that down.